Five inmates at Decker Lake Youth Facility attempted to escape early Wednesday, overpowering two counselors and locking the adults in a bathroom.
The teens tried to pry an outside fence apart but were unable to escape before police arrived and arrested them. Three of the five teens were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail under the new serious youth offender law, which only became law July 1.The trouble started about 2 a.m. Wednesday when two of the teens, who shared a room because of double bunking, broke out the window in the door to their room. That enabled them to unlock the door from the outside and get from their rooms into the general living area for all residents in that section of the facility.
The duo then broke into other rooms in the center and released other teens, said Bill Nelsen, administrator of Youth Corrections region II.
When counselors Dave Cianto and Eveni Tafiti entered the living center about 10 minutes later to do hourly checks, several teens attacked them.
"The kids ran at them with table legs," Nelsen said. "They told (the counselors) to go into the shower room and they wouldn't be hurt."
Tafiti was hit in the arm and back by the teens, but he wasn't seriously injured. The adults went into the shower room and the youths locked the door behind them.
About five teens broke out of the living center and got into the facility's outside yard, which is surrounded by a security fence. Some of the teens stayed in the living center and eventually let the counselors out of the shower area, Nelsen said.
After the group of marauding youths got into the yard, they tried to escape by prying the fence apart. The boys also tied sheets together and threw them over a security fence in hopes of getting out, said West Valley police Lt. Craig Gibson.
A counselor in the facility's control room saw the teens in the yard on a security monitor and called police, Nelsen said. Some of the teens who remained in the living center also alerted the counselor in the control room to the problem.
When the teens couldn't get out of the yard, they broke into another section of the facility and released two more teens from their rooms, Nelsen said. They also did extensive damage to furniture and equipment in that living center.
Gibson said the inmates also broke a television and tore off a refrigerator door. Nelsen estimated the damage to be in the thousands of dollars.
West Valley police arrived within five minutes of being called and quickly took the teens into custody. Nelsen said Youth Corrections officials felt because of the crimes committed, the age of the youths and the length of their criminal records, they should go to the adult jail under the new serious youth offender law.
Nelsen said officials expected some trouble from teens in secure care, some of whom believe they'll get more sympathy in the adult system because of their age.
"We were expecting some behavior like this," he said. "Some of the kids figure they'll take their chances in the adult system."
Salt Lake County Jail officials actually refused to take the teens at first, saying they had to be certified as adults before they could be booked. But Salt Lake County deputy district attorney Bob Yates helped clarify the matter, and the teens were booked early this morning.
Under the new law, any teen who's 16 and older and has been committed to secure care will automatically go into the adult system if he or she commits any felony. All of the possible charges pending against the teens are felonies.
The center normally houses 40 teens, but last year Gov. Mike Leavitt ordered Youth Corrections to double bunk its secure facilities. Nelsen said there were about 14 teens in the living center where the trouble started and 56 teens in the entire facility. The division was given no money to hire more staff when they were told to double bunk, but Nelsen said they did hire additional part-time staff to help with the additional teens.
Adolpho Travis Hards, 17, Sandy; Billy Rohwedder, 16, West Valley City; David Pantelakis, 17, Salt Lake City, were all booked for investigation of escape, assault by a prisoner and destruction of jail property.
All of the teens were committed to Decker Lake on felony charges and have extensive criminal records. They were being held without bail Wednesday.